Tuesday, January 13, 2026
‘Bogus’ Phoenix appears around the city
By Paul Phillips
Editor and Publisher
An imposter is responsible for several recent sightings of Myke Phoenix in the city, according to the person who has worn the superhero’s mantle for the past 36 years.
“I don’t know who this guy is and why he’s doing this,” said the man, whose identity the Beacon is withholding for his safety and for that of his family. “All I know is, he’s not me.”
Reports say Myke Phoenix thwarted an attempted robbery Dec. 29 at the 67th National Bank branch on McPhearson Street. He is also credited with rescuing a couple whose vehicle plunged into the Shikaakwa River in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day. In a third public appearance, the superhero is said to have assisted police during a high-speed chase on Jan. 4, which ended when Phoenix leaped in front of the culprit’s car and stopped it with his bare hands, with the vehicle pushing him nearly 350 feet after he placed his hands on the hood and braced himself.
“Obviously these are good deeds, and I’d do the same thing in those situations, but I didn’t. I wasn’t there,” said the real Myke Phoenix. “The guy is bogus.”
The Beacon has also learned that the imposter had a conversation with Astor City business leader and former bad guy Quincy Quackenbos shortly before Christmas.
The ruse was discovered when Quackenbos visited the real superhero a few days after New Year’s Day, bringing a box of materials related to his criminal life, which ended in the late 1990s with his arrest and subsequent rehabilitation.
“Myke said — well, I guess it wasn’t him — the guy said he needed the stuff because someone was starting a new criminal enterprise that resembled some of my previous activities,” Quackenbos told the Beacon in a Jan. 10 interview.
Quackenbos declined to describe the materials because they are the subject of an ongoing investigation by the real Myke Phoenix, the Astor City Police Department, and other local and state law enforcement agencies.
“Other than impersonating a superhero, the guy hasn’t committed a crime, in fact he’s been helping us out,” said Sheriff Arnie Rogers, who expressed surprise that “Myke Phoenix” wasn’t really Myke Phoenix. “I’d be interested in finding out how he duplicated Myke’s superpowers.”
Known as the guardian or protector of Astor City, Myke Phoenix has been active since about 1990. His earliest achievements include breaking up the crime syndicate run by Alan Pinkstaff that was eventually traced to the talking dinosaur Deinonychus, the arrest of Quackenbos, battles against mysterious giant spiders that breathed fire, and the exposure and defeat of the space alien invaders informally called the Body Borrowers, who conspired with Deinonychus shortly before the dinosaur’s demise in 2014.
Although his more recent exploits have not been as dramatic, the superhero’s presence and activities are sometimes cited as a reason for a precipitous decrease Astor City’s violent crime rate in recent decades.
Anyone with information regarding the imposter is asked to contact Chief of Detectives Fredricks at the police department.
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The reader looked up from his phone with an inquisitive look.
“You realize you published a book in 2019 called Myke Phoenix: The Complete Novelettes?” said the reader. “Is that subtitle about to become obsolete?”
The author grinned a mysterious grin.
“Who said this is the beginning of a novelette?” he asked.
